00:00:02 John Daub: Greetings! Hello everybody, welcome to Tokyo. That in front of us is a symbol of the city. That's Tokyo Tower. And if a lot of you were here, you'd be enjoying it with me. But until that happens, this is a live stream bringing you with me to Japan. How you doing everybody? I wanted to address a topic that I woke up to this morning.

00:00:26 John Daub: It is, when is the worst time to visit Tokyo? Or when is the best time not to visit Tokyo? It is such an easy question for me. I woke up this morning with eyes irritated, nose running. I really couldn't sleep last night. This is the start. Today is the start of hay fever season, or kafunshou (hay fever).

00:00:48 John Daub: And I came to this spot not just because Tokyo Tower is behind me now, but also because I love trees. I just don't like them right now. This tree in front of us was planted by President Ulysses S. Grant, who came to Japan. And I always like to come here when I'm in the area just to give homage to this amazing tree. And if you do come to Japan and you want to connect yourself with the guy who's on the front of the $50 bill, he was here, right here at this spot. Pretty cool, huh?

00:01:23 John Daub: So we'll get a closer look at this. But February is not the best time to visit Tokyo. Maybe Japan. There's nobody around. Let's go over here to the corner. Maybe the best time to visit Japan, but it's not a good time to visit Tokyo. And here's why. I downloaded some pictures that kind of highlight the situation.

00:01:47 John Daub: Now, the weatherman, who is my enemy today, told me that this is just the start. And actually, the pollen is not that high today. Liar. Total liar. All right, check it out here. All right, this is a picture. Let's see if I can get the screen a little bit brighter. Let's go into the shadow here. So this is a picture of the map of Japan here.

00:02:18 John Daub: And on it, you can see clearly listed Tokyo, which is the orange right here, starts February 7th. And that's today. The kafun starts to fly. Sugi (Japanese cedar) is awful here. The next graph. It's super weak. I totally don't believe this. OK, because I can feel it. Do you see here? It's under 50 percent, which is the green. And this is Tokyo right there next to the yellow. All right. So total liars. It's fake news.

00:02:53 John Daub: All right. Sugi. And this is a little tutorial here. Sugi is Japanese cedar and hinoki (Japanese cypress) trees. And you see the cycle here. This is January, February, March. Right here at February in the beginning is when the sugi starts to pollinate. And you can see those yellow demon spots of death that get into my nose and eyes. They have started. And after around the middle of April and May, it starts to go away. And we're blessed with good weather for the rest of the year.

00:03:31 John Daub: But you could see on this graph here from the news that in February it's supposed to be like 25 percent, but it's like way over this red line. And that red line is when you start to see John cry, not because he's sad, but because it's pollen in my eyes. So that just gives you a little bit of an insight of if you do come to Japan, just be aware that in February, typically I would say this is kind of early, it feels like. And apparently this year is not supposed to be as bad as last year, which was awful. And 2004 was the worst year of them all. I remember these years to like mark down like rings inside of that tree for her to cut it down. That would be a bad ring.

00:04:21 John Daub: But the pollen was really bad last year. It's supposed to be pretty good this year or better. But I don't feel it. I feel what I feel, which is like fire in my eyes, which is awful. If for a lot of people, it might not be an issue. I think if the younger you are, the more you can fight this off, the older you get, the more it hits you. And tomorrow is my birthday. I'll be meeting with PVG—Peter von Gomm—in the afternoon and of course my wife at night for a birthday party. So we'll be celebrating that and a reason why I might be suffering a little more this year than I was last year. Age sort of matters with pollen.

00:05:09 John Daub: Apparently, let's go take a quick look at this tree as I try to recover from sniffing a mouthful of pollen. And I love trees. It's just these trees will survive us all. And it survived the man who planted it. Ulysses S. Grant. You know, we don't have any Internet clips of him speaking, but apparently he might have spoken very much like ex-Prime Minister Mori, who is under hot fire this morning and a lot of mornings.

00:05:38 John Daub: OK, this is the temple of Zojoji. And this used to be the place where people would celebrate the new year. If CNN were showing the Harbor Bridge in Sydney, they would be showing this spot here in the Japanese New Year where people would congregate to do hatsumode (first shrine/temple visit of the new year). But right now it's under construction. It is a temple. And I forgot the sect there, but it's one of the sects I believe brought in by Ieyasu Tokugawa way, way, way back when. It's a beautiful site. And if you are there's a lot of hotels in this area and a lot of people will stay in this area. This is a great place to walk around.

00:06:36 John Daub: Thank you, Steven. Thank you, everybody. That's real nice of you. Save it for tomorrow because I'll be doing some. I got an episode release I think is coming tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm just finishing it up. Tortora Porco, happy birthday to the youngest at heart. Man, I know you may be blessed with many more. I thought may your nose be blessed with many more. And I was saying, wait, no, I don't want any more pollen. I'm done with the pollen. Thank you for that. That's so kind. Francis Young Junior. Thank you for Singapore. That's really nice of you. See you for tomorrow. I got one more day. I got to make it through one more day. And T-Bird 328. Happy early birthday. Thank you, T-Bird. We have one of the best communities on the Internet.

00:07:32 John Daub: How are you doing? All right. So this tree is wow. Can somebody chime in? What exactly was Ulysses S. Grant's tenure? You could probably find out more about that man and who's in his tomb. Apparently, people are telling me that it's not him. I don't really know. I'm outside here. We'll take you to Daimon Hamamatsucho. And if you go to the platform of Hamamatsucho Station, JR Station, you'll find the peeing kid who is dressed in a new outfit every couple of months or so. I think every month in it, he dresses up in a new costume. And I believe he's wearing a mask for the last year. And I can piss. It's a recreation of the statue from Belgium.

00:08:44 John Daub: So Zojoji was founded in 1393 by the Jodo Shu denomination as the central monastery in the Kanto East Japan region devoted to the religious practice of the nembutsu recitation of Amida, the name Buddha's name. So Zojoji was relocated to the present site in 1590, a lot of these temples have moved in the past by Ieyasu Tokugawa, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. Yeah, it's good. So it's a Jodo Buddhist sect for someone who to answer that. Wow. And to the right, you see it. Trees. Another. I love you guys. Trees. Just not today. Bless you trees. Just keep your pollen to yourself.

00:09:31 John Daub: We actually shouldn't blame the trees at all. We should be blaming people. One of the reasons why this is the worst time. It's obvious, isn't it? After World War Two, there was a lot of the buildings in the city of Tokyo were destroyed, especially in the firebombing of March 10th, 1945. And because there was a lot of rebuilding plans, they needed the trees. They needed the lumber. So they started to plant a lot of Japanese cedar, sugi, in the forest not too far away from Tokyo. This is what happens when you stay at home for so long. So they planted these trees in the 1940s and 50s. And then they started to grow in around the 1990s. Boy, did they get mature fast and throw their pollen into the air every time there's blue skies and clear blue skies. The winds will bring it right into the city of Tokyo and make us all feel like we're on fire.

00:10:41 John Daub: And the budget for getting rid of these trees has increased. Now, we didn't need the lumber because eventually, as time went on, we found that we didn't use it. And it was more expensive to use domestic lumber than it was to import it. You might as well just import it. So all of these trees that were supposed to be chopped down. I'm not talking about these right here. I'll explain what that is in a second. A lot of these trees were supposed to be chopped down and used for construction. They never were. So that's why we're suffering and the timber goes wasted. Sort of. There were some construction companies that had made plans to go ahead and use this wood. But the costs to do it in these places that just don't have roads and it's very hard to get to and hire the labor is really ridiculously expensive these days. I don't think they planned very well, did they? After World War Two. But the trees are there and they like to spit their pollen towards our faces, which makes us go on fire.

00:11:47 John Daub: Now, these statues here. Hey, Jennifer French. That's so nice of you. Air to the Ron is here. I see just by the logo. There he is. Happy almost birthday. Get some noodles or a dogecoin. Or is it doge coin? I saw that. Mr. Elon Musk wrote something about that. Is that enough to get one? These are little statues that represent lost children and you see them holding the pinwheel. And it's a symbol. It's a symbol that should bring sadness, but it's just so beautiful. It's hard to have anything but a positive emotion when you see this for me. But thinking of what whenever you lose a child, you think about what could have been. That's a hard emotion to control. But it's here and it's just part of life. It's a hard one.

00:12:47 John Daub: Here's the history on it. Just so I don't get it wrong completely. These are kami guardian deities for children. They are dedicated for the safety growth of children and grandchildren, as well as the memorial service for stillbirth or miscarried children to protect and keep warm their hands. Red hat, red apron and windmill were dedicated to the guardian deity of children. Image, please refrain from touching. So that's why they have the red hats on there.

00:13:43 John Daub: Instead of going to Tokyo Tower, let's go this way. I know it's a little bit better. So some of you might be asking, when is the best time to visit Japan? Of course, it just happens to be after. It's the best time to visit Japan. But you have to be sure that the pollen is gone and that pollen goes around to the middle of April. It starts to dissipate, starts to calm itself down or blow itself out. And then in May, we have not only the beautiful weather in May. There's very little pollen in the air. And for me, the best time is after the cherry blossom season. The spring breaks. I mean, the weather will break and it's warm every day and it's pretty much sunny, too.

00:14:28 John Daub: And this is a reason why we have the Golden Week holiday, which is the holiday that might be the most crowded in Japan besides Shogatsu (New Year's) and Obon. But Golden Week is crazy. Usually that's about April 27th to May 5th. And then after May 5th. Oh, it's just beautiful. People stop traveling, have to go to work. And then YouTubers like me, YouTube creators can just kind of travel the country and enjoy the best of the weather. That's when I filmed the most. I believe. I'm in the month of May right before the rainy season, which starts in June, which is a tough.

00:15:03 John Daub: Something's happening over in Roppongi. If you were to walk straight this way for another 30 minutes, you'd get into Roppongi. I hear something going on over there. It's probably protests to ex-Prime Minister Mori's comments the other day. All right, let's go out to the street here and walk over towards the park. Tomorrow, Peter and I are planning to meet around 12 o'clock, which is, I believe, 10 p.m. New York time. Go see what he's doing. No politics, just fun. Thank you, Michael Sasano. That's so kind of you.

00:16:04 John Daub: Hey, Chance here. My surname, Maniseira-san. That makes it easier. When it's in hiragana, in katakana, it makes it easier for me to pronounce. Do you think the pandemic will change the Japanese work culture? Do you think the birth rates will increase because of it? It's already changing the Japanese work culture. That's such a great question. It's also changing the birth rate a little bit. But for the most part, we don't see a big baby boom yet. Maybe wait a little bit longer and we'll see seeds that were planted. Will anything grow? I don't know.

00:16:49 John Daub: But the hanko culture, which is one that has made it really difficult. If you were not in the physical presence of somebody and you didn't get a stamp, then you weren't able to actually do your job without having this. And that culture of having to physically get things has changed slowly. It is in the process of changing now. Prime Minister Abe, before he left, had put in motion some motions that he wanted to get done. I don't know if he finished it or not. I still do have some things where I have to get physical stamps on them. For business transactions, we still need to have physical stamps. We can do that by mailing it to people, but takes so much time. So hopefully it'll change. The globalization of Japan, you know, it's not really there. It's a generational thing. And when we get to the park, I'll kind of explain why. Beautiful day today.

00:18:07 John Daub: Hey, Bradanius here. I am at work, but wanted to drop in real quick to say hi and show some support. Hope your day is going great and see you on Discord. We've had a lot of fun. We've had some pretty good discussions on Discord over the last 24 hours. If you want to go in there and check it out and share some photos, talk about the ume blossoms, which just started popping out. And one of the reasons why I came here, because around the corner is one of the trees that first blooms in Tokyo.

00:18:38 John Daub: Oh, wow. There's a lot of people in the park here. Whoa. I expected it to be deserted. I did not expect this. Did anybody expect this? Wow. This is Shiba Park. It feels like a festival. Well, I'm not going to go too deep into this. I'm going to keep my distance. But this tree here in the middle was one that we saw last year, almost 350 days ago, I believe. And we can see, I think it's already budding. Boy, the park is busy, isn't it? Oh, it's budding. Oh, wow. Oh, my gosh. Look at this. Do you see the buds on there? Wow. We are about maybe a week away from this thing just blooming. This is ume (plum blossoms).

00:20:14 John Daub: It is a little early, but you know what? Let me get out of here. It is a little early, but hey, I think in a year like this, I'll take it. I'm just really shocked at the amount of people that are out here today. Check it out. Just going to do a little pan around there. There's Tokyo Tower. Shiba Park is pretty cool. This is a, um, besides Hibiya Park, this one is one of the central parks of Japan. This one's not too big. Everybody's wearing a mask and that's it. Well, except for that guy. That's a good thing. Get some vitamin D. No blossoms in the Netherlands yet. It's minus five degrees Celsius. A lot of snow. It's pretty cold in the East Coast. I've been watching the snowstorms happening on the news. Hope everybody stays warm and safe in the US. Not only are we fighting a pandemic, you're fighting snow.

00:21:20 John Daub: Wow, is that a Ferrari? I saw another YouTuber pass me about 20 minutes ago and I'm trying to think who exactly that was. No, it's a Honda. What? That's a Honda? I didn't think Honda made cars that were so nice like that. All right, let's get a move on. My friend Indy, I will not confuse that with Spaceboat. I promise you. I will not confuse that with the amazing Spaceboat. If you were to go this way, you would get to, I believe, Mita Station. And that's not too far away from where Kanae and I got married almost three years ago. It's pretty crazy. Three years, wow.

00:22:26 John Daub: I might go there, Joy. I might go there in April to do a, I guess, kind of an anniversary party. Those are always nice. But I got a lot to talk about in terms of a Japanese wedding. And I thought that was really interesting. The traditions that I had to do and then study like why I had to do these certain things. To me, it was really weird. Like turning a branch and my father had to get up onto the altar with Kanae's father and had to turn a branch a certain direction. Yeah, my dad completely butchered it. It's all right. It was really bad. But didn't matter. It's all in good fun. I guess a wedding is supposed to be a ceremony. But I guess you could say it went successfully.

00:23:27 John Daub: We do have a wedding video. I didn't have a professional do it. I kind of just sort of winged it. But you know what? I did live stream it. And at the time, Kanae was absolutely embarrassed by it. But that's the video we probably watch back the most. The video of me live streaming right before the ceremony to announce it. Oh, and by the way, I'm getting married. It's funny. It wasn't funny at the time, actually. It's kind of had to explain myself later. What were you thinking? So it's one of those what were you thinking moments that turned out to be pretty genius because my friend Tom was there and he helped me make the video. If you haven't seen it, it's kind of funny. Now that I've explained a little bit to you. It's April 21st, 2018.

00:24:26 John Daub: There are a lot of really funny videos. I'm going to show you a couple of really famous spots at Shiba Park or in this area. Again, this is like one of the places. It's not too far away from where I live. I like to come out here. That's not like a 20 minute bike ride. Yeah. But then you get views like this. And I believe this is the road. It's different because there's no traffic and I'm on the road. But this is the road that I would run the Tokyo Marathon on. And we would go by. And I remember when you run this way, you're running past Shinagawa. You're running towards Shinagawa Station. And then you turn around at Shinagawa and make your way back. And you go straight this way all the way to Asakusa, which is like 10, 11 kilometers up. It's crazy. Usually in February, too, the wind is so strong going this direction. So you're fighting the wind for 11 kilometers straight. And it's so hard because you're at the 15 kilometer mark to like the 26 kilometers. This is a stretch here.

00:25:34 John Daub: But coming here at around 10K. It's nice to turn to your right and then you see the temple with Tokyo Tower. It's kind of a nice little hey, I'm in Tokyo. And sometimes they have taiko drums here on the day of the Tokyo Marathon. But the Tokyo Marathon this year was canceled or kind of suspended and moved to October.

00:26:04 John Daub: I'm going to talk a little bit more about the best times to come to Japan. Let's see if we can get the 500 likes in the next minute. It's up to you, community. It's up to you. Maybe I'll find a vending machine. MJ has done his part. By the way, MJ, I have like 15 postcards of yours to send as soon as UAE starts up airmail again. I'm so sorry. All right. We did it. Okay. Let's go over here next to the Ulysses S. Grant tree. Kind of. I could talk better over here. And we're going to make this a shorter live stream. I love trees. Just not today.

00:26:58 John Daub: The best times to visit Japan. I would say is May. First best time. May. I know that means that you're going to miss the cherry blossom season in most of Japan. Up in the mountains. Up in Aomori. It starts at the end of April. So the cherry blossoms don't always start at the same time. You have to remember they start in maybe the middle of March down in Kyushu. And they work their way up all the way to Hokkaido. And the last places bloom around the middle to end of May in the north of Hokkaido. So somewhere there's always going to be cherry blossoms in Japan. So you don't miss it just because it's May. But you're going to miss it in the Tokyo area. I don't think Tokyo's cherry blossoms are that great anyways. It's just really crowded. A lot of people are drunk. It's sort of festive. But the last couple of years they've really cracked down on that. Yasukuni Shrine stopped having those parties and the stands where people would get drunk underneath the trees. So a lot of the places have started to mellow it out. Because it got a little out of control. It was almost like a college party without the kegs.

00:28:19 John Daub: But I always believed that the beauty of the cherry blossoms was out into the countryside. In places where there weren't a lot of people. Where you could appreciate a local tree. The best cherry blossom or sakura tree is the one in your neighborhood. The one near your house. The one that you see every day all the time. When it's green or it's barren. And those two weeks when the blossoms bloom. That makes that tree that you see every day really special. And that's I think the best cherry blossom tree. Because you appreciate it more when it's blooming. Coming as a tourist to see the trees in Tokyo. You don't really have a connection with the trees. So I'm just saying. May is the best time. Hands down. I can't think of a better time.

00:29:06 John Daub: The time after that I would say would be September. We do have typhoons. And they can come and go. But the good thing is that when the typhoon clears the air. You get amazing views to Mt. Fuji. Usually you have the clearest skies for the next 36 to 48 hours following a typhoon. And they always pass. They don't sit here on the city of Tokyo and make it crazy. But it might delay a flight or two. But I would say September and October would be the second best time.

00:29:33 John Daub: The worst times? Right now. You don't want to be here. Not only is it cold. And the days are shorter. Because it's winter. You have pollen to fight off. And on top of that. Maybe it's a little bit cheaper. But there's a reason why. You don't just enjoy it as much. Now if you came to Japan just to eat. Which is a lot of people. I think if you're coming to Japan just to eat. Then it doesn't really matter. But if you're coming as a tourist to kind of explore the sights. And walk around. And enjoy nature. Yeah. Today. February is not the right month for you. Alright. And if you're an Australian and you come here for skiing. Maybe it is. But not for Tokyo. You know. Tokyo's best time is May. And September. October. And then the third best time is summer. Just because you get longer days. And it's warmer outside.

00:30:31 John Daub: But the downside with summer. And this is a. I'm not going to do it. Who wrote that? Tuomas Hollow. I'm not doing it man. And if you should become a member. Then you can have the do it emoji. We actually have an emoji that says do it. Do it. Nobody's using it. A lot of you are members. And you're not using the emoji. I got to change them up. Summer again is a personal choice. I love the hot humid weather. I don't mind it so much. But your back sticks most of the time. Just from the sweat. So it might not be the best time to visit Japan. But the days are longer. You can do more. More attractions are open. And there's sort of this vibe that I really like. Especially when the sun goes down. And it starts to cool off a little bit. But the air conditioning becomes your friend. And it is so humid in here. And you're going to find out in the Summer Olympics. I told them not to do it. But no one listens to me. They should have. I told them that they should do it in October. Because the 1964 Olympics were held not in the summer. They were held in October. The last time they were held in Tokyo. For a reason. Because it was too hot. So just pointing that out. IOC. It's not too late to delay it just a little bit longer. You know. Why not?

00:32:12 John Daub: PVG just sent me a message. And says that we should meet at Tokyo Dome tomorrow. Not sure about that. Sounds like too much fun. Which is worse? July or August? Wow. That's a tough one. The beginning of July is very. Is still part of the rainy season. So it's actually raining. And it's humid. So. I'm going to say August is better. Because it's not raining. But it's hot. It's so hot. You could fry an egg on the sidewalk. I haven't tried it. But if I did. It would be really disgusting. And somebody would have to clean it up.

00:32:57 John Daub: Again. December is not a great time. It's just kind of cold. But autumn doesn't start until the beginning of December. In a lot of places. Like Tokyo. So you don't get the autumn colors. Until really late November. In Kyoto. So the middle of November. It'll start. But really late November. And the beginning of December. Is really nice. That's when you get the autumn colors. But you would think it would be early November. But it's not. Unless you're in Tohoku. Which is where you should be. Tohoku is beautiful in the autumn.

00:33:31 John Daub: So my point is this. The title of this video is about the worst time to visit Tokyo. But for Japan. February. Ski slopes. They're pretty good. Nagano. This might be the peak season. For a lot of places. Up in Hokkaido. This might be the peak season. For a lot of places. Up in Abashiri. Is actually the peak season. In the north. The very north of Hokkaido. Actually. This is the peak season. I was three years ago. I was in Abashiri. For my birthday. Last year. I was in Hokkaido too. For my birthday. And it was minus 20 degrees. And I walked outside. Looking for a place. To celebrate my birthday. Couldn't find it in Abashiri. There's a live stream. I was wandering around the streets. Of Abashiri. Abashiri is also famous. For the prison. And they have this. Ice breaking boat. That is so cool. That takes you. Into the Sea of Okhotsk. Which is like an Arctic Ocean. Type of sea. It's surreal. And you're on this boat. Breaking ice. It's so cool. The seafood up there. It's summertime. And I do have a video. Up in Kitami. Dropping. At the end of this month. Just so you know. I took it last year. With the world's. Coldest. And biggest. Yakiniku Festival. Maybe. They have. Like 2000 grills going. It's a pretty surreal. Experience at 20 below zero. And I haven't uploaded that video. So. I'm looking forward to. Putting that up. At the end of February.

00:35:28 John Daub: Awesome. You flip zero six. You always crack me up. Stay safe. And lovely. Take care. Taylor's here. Yo, happy birthday for tomorrow. Tomorrow to Pate. Hoping to travel to Japan again when borders are open. Awesome places to see and visit. The street foods. I know. Just because I'm going to be ending the live stream in a minute. I'm going to be going up to Akita on the 12th and 13th of February. There's a festival going on that I was invited to film at. It's important for me to get moving. It's still going on. I confirmed it on Friday. They said, come on up. We have a hotel reservation for you. We're going to show you this amazing place. I'm kind of excited to go up there and show you a little bit. I'm going to start traveling again in the middle of February. To bring you to places around, especially Hokkaido.

00:36:01 John Daub: The Shinkansen Pass, the JR East Welcome Rail Pass, is still available. It's 12,000 yen for 3 days of unlimited use. You could use it all day if you wanted to. Up to Tohoku. I'm going to take the Shinkansen, I believe, up to Shin-Aomori. Then come back down to Akita and film a festival there. I've been wanting to go to this festival for years. It's more subdued. I think it's by invitation or something. We were invited to go to this on Oga Peninsula. It's the Hagi Festival. The ohagi, which are these monsters that come from the mountains to attack little kids. Drag them back, crying and screaming into the hills. Into these little cottages. I just made that up. But it's a very, very cool festival.

00:36:50 John Daub: Yeah. And, Joy, I'll get on Twitch. I just bought a new monitor that Mr. Nosh recommended to me. So I've got two monitors going on here. So I'm pretty close to finishing off the set. But I have a fireworks video. Gosh, I've got so many things going on. And I have some big, big news that just dropped yesterday. I'm trying to digest it to see what I can do. But it's amazing news with a really big company here. And gives me access to stuff that is going to blow you away this year. I'm super excited. Don't forget to subscribe. And click that like button.

00:37:23 John Daub: That in front of us, just the last clip, just for those joining us, the 1,400 people. That's Tokyo Tower. I believe in the 2011 earthquake, it was so strong that the tip of Tokyo Tower was bent because of the shaking back and forth. And I believe they had to cut part of it. And Tokyo Tower used to have a lot of fireworks. And it was pride. And the brochure said that it was 333 meters high, which was higher than the Eiffel Tower. And I believe it's not higher than the Eiffel Tower anymore because of the 2011 earthquake. And they had to take it down a few meters because of the bent pole up there. But this tree next to it and the reason why I came here is because this was planted at this spot by President Ulysses S. Grant. I think he was still in office when he planted this. So he came here and he planted the tree right here. And that tree turned into this, which is cool. So we're sort of connected to the Civil War with this tree. That is awesome. Like that era, right? The 19th century in this tree. I wish I can go and hug that tree, but they put this fence around it. So I can't go hug it. It's probably got bugs on it, pollen and stuff. 1879. Thank you so much.

00:38:43 John Daub: No tree huggers. See, the one who came. Just say it. Just say it. Don't spray it. It's pollen spraying everywhere. You know, if you squint, you can see the pollen. It's very fine. If you squint. I can't even do that. My eyes. So if you do see me and I look a little bit pale and my eyes are red, it's because of the pollen. And I wasn't impacted by it 20 years ago, but I am more now. And it's just maybe because I'm getting older. We all get a little older. I won't admit it, but I just sort of did.

00:39:26 John Daub: Who would start a bonfire at a temple? Really? Who would do that? Oh, let's come to a temple in central Tokyo and start a bonfire. Is that a thing? Maybe it used to be. Like there's unexplainable signs. Oh, check it out. They do have Instagram. So do I. This is Zojoji Enzan 1393, the year that it opened official. I guess they couldn't just stick to something simple. They really had to make it long. Well, maybe I'll go check it out later. It's a beautiful place. It's under construction now, under renovation.

00:40:19 John Daub: All right, let's make our way out of these ancient doors. Thanks so much for watching, everybody. I hope this was helpful. If you have questions about the best and the worst time to visit Japan, leave them in the comments. Hit up our Discord server. I'm telling you right now, we have 10,000 strong in there. It's an awesome place. You get the notifications when the videos come out, too. It's another Patreon supporter as well. But also Discord is like a failsafe. So you get to catch us live. And I'm in there all the time sharing photos. Just tag me in there and I'll try my best to take a look at it. But if you do have questions, that is the place to go to. And the new channel, Only in Japan. Youtube.com slash John Daub. It's a new channel, edited videos. Maybe you don't know about it because 80% of the people watching are not subscribed. I guess they'll eventually figure it out. They'll figure it out. Thanks, everybody. I'll see you in the next live stream tomorrow. Maybe a Twitch one tonight. And there's a Patreon Q&A tonight, too, by the way. Thank you, Tanya, new follower from New Orleans. I hope you enjoy the live streams and thoroughly enjoy your videos. Thank you. See you, guys.